Last Judgment
by eddie-angel
Summary: LS Sequel to Never Let Them See You Cry. Three weeks of leave goes faster than Lilly had expected. Before long she's thrown back into the world of death and destruction after a fire at a warehouse reveals a secret that was meant to stay hidden forever.
1. Auguries of Innocence

**Last Judgment**

**Synopsis:** Three weeks of leave goes faster than Lilly had expected. Before she knows it she's thrown back into the world of death and destruction after a fire at a warehouse reveals a secret that was meant to stay hidden forever.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Cold Case or William Blake's Auguries of Innocence, you couldn't trust me with them ;)

**Chapter 1: Auguries of Innocence**

_Kill not the moth nor butterfly,  
__For the Last Judgment draweth nigh.  
_Auguries of Innocence, William Blake

_Rock music thumped dully out of the car speakers in a vain attempt to drain out his conscious, scolding him for what he had done. Sweat was trickling down his face as the car halted to a stop, scraping the hubcaps against the curb. It wasn't supposed to have turned out like this. He had meant just to scare her nothing more. He hadn't noticed that the gun wasn't on safety. It has been loaded and ready to fire. He had fingered the trigger, once again just to scare her. He wanted her to see that she should take him seriously, he wasn't to be joked about. _

_Gingerly he ran his fingers over the cut between his thumb and forefinger on his right hand. Slide-bite. The injury of amateur shooters. Remembering the reason he was here, he got out of the car. He looked around for a couple of minutes to make sure there were no eyes lurking in the shadows. Satisfied that he was alone he opened the trunk of his car and carefully lifted out the body before heading towards the nearby building. It was an old building, which had a frame made up mainly of wooden beams. He didn't know much about it's original purposes but it had been used as a warehouse for a small local business until recently. He tried yet again to take his mind off the weight over his shoulder by trying to remember what it was that they had sold. Furniture, maybe? _

_Working in the area he had learned that he main concern of the builders of these old buildings had not been security. He lay the body down by the back door before covering his hand with the sleeve of his coat and smashing it through the back window. From there he could easily reach in and turn the doorknob, effectively opening the back entrance. Luckily the lack of security in this area hadn't changed over the years._

_He organized everything else quickly and carefully. It was hard since his hands were sweaty and he had a stress-induced headache. He had found everything he would need in the back of his car. He had seen this done on TV before and knew it was fairly simple. Newspaper, an oily rag, cigarettes and matches. Perfect inconspicuous fire-starter. Perfect cover-up._

_From the safety of his car he watched as the flames climbed high into the night sky. Relief washed over him. It was over._

* * *

Lilly's eyes shot open and she was shocked, but relieved to find herself in her own house, in her own bed. "It was only a dream, it was only a dream she," consoled herself as she tried to regulate her breathing. She looked over at the clock; it's red digits glowing in the darkness. 5:27. Earlier than last night, but later than the night before that. She pushed back the blankets and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She hadn't slept through a night since she'd come home from the hospital. Well she had slept the first night but that probably had more to do with the medication that had still been in her system.

She was now up to her last few days of leave and although three weeks had seemed daunting at first it actually hadn't been too bad. She'd spent most of the first few days in bed, too tired and down to do anything else. Scotty had been around a couple of times over the first few days, bringing her up to speed with how their case was going. She had even received a phone call from Kite. She hadn't been there when he'd called but he'd left a message telling her that he'd been worried about her and he was glad she was all right. He had said she didn't have to call him back but he'd appreciate it if she did. Lilly was way past the point of caring about what he would or would not appreciate. She didn't return his call.

She was startled from her thoughts by the sensation of soft fur brushing against the bare skin of her arm. "Hey Olivia," she said gently stroking her. She had to admit Scotty had done a pretty good job of looking after them for her. She stood up and headed towards the bathroom. She had a long way to go yet before this day would be over.

By midday she was ready to leave. She had meant to leave earlier but had ended up on the phone to a friend and the morning had just gotten away from her. So this is what it's like yo have a normal life, she thought as she picked up her keys off the kitchen counter. "Chatting with girl-friends, shopping trips and manicures," she said as she stared down at her nails, which were an alarming shade of magenta. She supposed it was okay occasionally, but she could never live like this. She needed more excitement, more of a challenge in her life and that was what her work gave her. Although, she thought as she descended down her front steps, sometimes it would be nice if the toughest decision she had to make in a week were what colour to paint her nails.


	2. She's A Lady

**Chapter 2: She's A Lady **

**A/N: This was originally part of chapter one, but I decided to separate them. Sorry that it took so long to get this up, technical difficulties, damn I hate computers sometimes!**

**Thanks heaps to everyone who reviewed.**

Dammit, he thought as he paced along the concrete, where the hell was she? He retreated back over to the front steps and sighed deeply before sitting on the steps. He'd called her home number and just got the machine, he called her mobile and was told by an automated message that it was switched off.

Lilly turned into her street feeling really good. She had been shopping, she'd done something for herself, bought things for herself and it felt good. She hardly ever got an opportunity to just spend a day doing whatever she wanted, going where she wanted, when she wanted and it was awesome.

Okay, so it hadn't all been peaches and cream. She wasn't exactly used to having to wait in lines for things all day, one flash of the badge and she could get straight into almost anything, straight to the front of any line. Of course today she couldn't but it didn't bother her now. She was on the home straight.

The sound of approaching footsteps caused Scotty to rise to his feet. He felt both relieved and annoyed at the same time. But these emotions melted away as he took in the whole picture. She looked so happy, and that was a rarity in itself after their last case. He was surprised to see her carrying shopping bags, not grocery bags, but actually shopping bags from clothing stores. He hadn't figured her to be much of a 'shopping girl' type. He supposed there were a lot of things he didn't know about her. She still hadn't noticed him, her gaze directed straight ahead. She is so beautiful, he thought to himself. He had hardly ever seen her with her hair down; she should definitely leave it that way more often. Reality kicked in and he went down the steps and onto the street to greet her.

Lilly nearly dropped the bags she was carrying when she saw Scotty appear on the sidewalk in front of her. Though the words that he spoke would have once sounded like a challenge, now they seemed more like a comfort. Her near death experience had changed her.

"Where have you been?" he said trying hard to keep the annoyance and anxiousness that he felt out of his voice. He knew that if she thought he was trying to control her that she would just react with anger and retreat back into her shell.

"Nice to see you too," she replied.

He looked slightly shocked, her reaction not being what he had anticipated. She smiled at the look of surprise on his face before continuing up her front steps. Before he knew it she had unlocked the front door and was standing in the doorway looking at him.

"You just gonna stand there or are you going to come in?"

He went up the steps and followed her in closing and locking the door behind him.

"How'd you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Open the door that fast with all those bags. I don't even remember seeing you put the down." Lilly almost started laughing when she saw the look of pure amazement on his face.

" You get good at quickly doing things like those when you're by yourself," she said smirking slightly.

"I'm going take a quick shower, think you can amuse yourself for a few minutes?"

"Yes ma'am," he said with a mock salute, before sliding down onto her couch.

She left him alone in the living room, walking through the house until she reached her bedroom. She dropped the bags on her bed before heading into the adjoining bathroom. Stepping into the shower, she rejoiced at the feeling of the hot water cascading down her back. After a couple of minutes of just standing under the warm spray she remembered that Scotty was still sitting in her living room.

* * *

Ten minutes and a change of clothes later she was ready to join him. Her hair hung to her shoulders, only towel dried. She hadn't bothered with make-up and was wearing black track-pants and a red hooded jacket.

When she re-entered the living room she saw Scotty having a whispered conversation with Olivia, clearly she hadn't forgotten him. Olivia looked up at Lilly as she entered the room and Scotty followed suit.

"Nice to see you got dressed up for me," he said smiling.

She scowled at him before picking up a cushion from the end of the couch and throwing it at him. "Well I was going to offer you something to drink, but now I'm not so sure," she said walking into the kitchen.

Scotty hurriedly got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen, sitting down on one of the stools against the kitchen bench.

"If I say I'm sorry and that you look lovely can I have that drink?"

She stood and looked at him for a moment, as if she was thinking it over before saying, "Yeah there's drinks in the fridge, help yourself," she stated with a playful expression on her face.

They went back into the living room and sat down on the couch. "So, uh, how long had you been waiting outside?"

"Not long…" was all he managed to get out before he burst out laughing.

"What the hell is so funny?" asked Lilly, smiling herself. She couldn't help it; his laughter was infectious.

"Your…your nails," was all he could get out before starting laughing again.

"Yeah what about them," she said stubbornly.

"They're pink; very pink." He started laughing again then said, "Wait till I tell Nick, he'd love this."

"You wouldn't," she said trying hard to suppress the smile that was determined to break through.

"Yeah, they probably wouldn't believe me anyway, you know what cops are like they need evidence."

Lilly stared at him, trying to figure out where he was going with this.

"I guess it's lucky that I have this with me," he said pulling out his cell phone, coincidentally also a camera phone.

Before she had time to react, he'd snapped a picture and seconds later Lilly's nails appeared on the screen.

"You little…" Lilly started before throwing herself forward in an attempt to grab the phone. Scotty held it just out of her reach as the fought for it on the couch. They were both laughing now and as she tried to stand on the couch he knocked her leg out from under her and she toppled forward landing on top of him.

"Ouch."

"Don't complain to me it's your fault," she said looking at him. Shyly she went to move off him, but he pulled her back down so he could kiss her. She tried again to move but he wouldn't let her. Finally she gave in and kissed back. He pulled back for a moment and gently whispered in her ear, "Don't worry Lil, your secrets safe with me," before returning his attention back to her lips. Although she'd showered he could still faintly taste the lipstick she had been wearing.

Suddenly she jumped up, a mischievous look on her face. She smiled coyly gesturing towards the phone she now held in her hand. But before she could do anything with it, it began to ring. Checking the display, she handed the phone back to Scotty, simply saying "Stillman."

Feeling slightly dejected she slumped back down on the coach, listening to his half of the conversation.

"Don't worry Lil," he said snapping his phone shut and sliding it back into his pocket, "you'll be back soon."

"Yeah," she said almost disbelievingly.

"Anyway I've got to get going, I told Stillman I'd be there within half an hour."

Lilly almost felt like asking him to take her with him but she knew that if she did she'd be looking at more time off. Stillman didn't take kindly to people disobeying his orders.

She was distracted from her thoughts by his lips once again brushing against her. He went to pull away but she steered his head back towards hers. She suddenly realised she didn't want him to leave, not yet. She didn't want to be alone.

Scotty was perplexed to say the least. Usually she was a bit shy about kissing him, and when he pulled away she always averted her gaze. But this time she was looking straight into his eyes. There was a look in her eyes that he couldn't place. He hadn't seen it before.

"I'll call you later and fill you in on what's happening."

She nodded and got up to open the door for him. They said their goodbyes and he left her standing in her doorway looking out onto an empty street.

**A/N: I've started on the third chapter and it was be up ASAP. I've got lots of assignments due and exams coming up but I'll update as frequently as possible.**


	3. Fast Car

**Chapter 3: Fast Car**

**A/N: Thanks lots to everyone who reviewed! I'm sorry this wasn't up sooner; I've been sick and had to do lots of stuff for Rock Eisteddfod. On a higher note we made it to the finals! (But that means lots of rehearsing and less writing time :( )**

He hadn't wanted to leave her, even if it was for work. Although she had stated over and over that she was fine he wasn't buying it. Lilly Rush was a woman who had obviously had a lot of practice hiding how she felt, because she was damn good at it, she could fool most people; but not him.

He had half an hour left before he would reach the crime scene; it was over the other side of town. To try and take his mind of Lilly he switched on the radio. Tracy Chapman's Fast Car filled up the silence.

_You've got a fast car  
Is it fast enough so we can fly away?  
We've gotta make a decision  
Leave tonight or live and die this way._

_So remember when we were driving  
Driving in your car  
Speed so fast I felt like I was drunk  
City lights lay out before us  
Your arm felt nice wrapped around my shoulder  
And I, had a feeling that I belonged  
I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone._

It made Scotty wonder if Lilly had longed for an escape route out of her life as she was growing up. Hell, he didn't even know how long she'd lived in Philly. She'd once mentioned a sister, three years younger, living in New York, but she made it quite clear that that subject wasn't open for discussion.

…_I'd always hoped for better  
Thought maybe together you and me find it  
I got no plans, I ain't going nowhere  
So take your fast car and keep on driving_

He didn't really pay much attention to the songs closing lines his mind preoccupied with Lilly.

Half an hour later he had reached the scene. He knew that he was close when he saw the flashing red and blue lights. Cutting the engine, he pulled up alongside another unmarked car. He got out and walked towards the shimmering crime tape, ID held in his pocket, ready if presentation was necessary.

It wasn't and the officer in charge of securing the perimeter of the scene lifted the tap to allow Scotty access. Scotty murmured "thanks," to the officer before continuing over to where Stillman was waiting for him

A few firemen were still at the scene, mostly packing up their equipment. The scene was a mess. 'Evidence recovery is gonna be a bitch,' he thought to himself. There wasn't much left anyway. The building was old and like most of the buildings in this old area of Philly was made almost entirely of wood.

The stench of burnt human flesh entered his nostrils and he fought back the urge to gag. There was no other smell like it. Just like decomps, the scent clung to your clothes and body as though it didn't want to be forgotten.

"What have we got," Scotty asked when he reached his bosses side.

"Fire out here at this warehouse last night, which is nothing unusual, kids come out here and do this thing all the time," he answered, his gaze shifting from the scene in front of them to Scotty.

"What makes this one special then?"

"Found remains of a body over there," he said pointing over to there left where the majority of the damage had been done, "coroner's on his way. Bringing a specialist with him."

"Specialist? For what?" Scotty asked, still not exactly sure what they were doing here. Sure they were part of the homicide division, but their team didn't usually take recent cases.

"For the same reason we are here. Follow me."

Stillman lead Scotty over the right, where the damage hadn't been so bad.

"After they'd put out the fire one of the firemen noticed this," he said pointing to an open trap door in the floor. "That was a couple of hours ago now. After they were sure that it was safe up here, that none of the remaining framework was going to collapse, a couple of the officers went down to check it out."

Scotty followed Stillman down through the trapdoor and down a staircase. At the bottom of the stairs was a room that looked as though it was a basement of some sort. Lying almost in the middle of the floor were two skeletons, fragments of clothing still clinging to the bones that lay on the dirt floor.

"Any ideas on how long they've been done here?" Scotty asked.

"No, but the trapdoors not hard to miss. Could be the last few people who've used this placed never even knew it was there. We'll have to wait till the coroner gets here before we can know for sure."

"No need to wait," came a voice from above. The coroner was a tall man, with dark skin and seemingly darker eyes. His hair was grey and starting to thin on top.

"Haven't seen you in a while Dr. Hawkins," extending his hand to shake the coroners.

"Well you haven't exactly been needing me much lately. Which in my line of work is a good thing." He turned and gestured at the woman who had followed him down the steps, unnoticed by Scotty and Stillman.

"This is Dr. Evans. She is a forensic anthropologist, the specialist I told you about."

Evans was beautiful; no other words could exactly describe her. She had dark brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and amazing blue eyes. She was tall with a figure that belonged in magazines and on catwalks, not in cold basements surrounded by death.

"Nice to meet you," said Scotty holding his hand out to her.

"Well I'll leave you to it Evans, I've got someone upstairs waiting to see me," said Dr. Hawkins.

As he'd left, Dr. Evans returned her attention to the two men standing before her. "I'll do a preliminary here then get them packed up and sent back to the morgue so I can't do a proper examination."

Scotty and Stillman stood back and watched as she put on her gloves and began to carefully exam to the bones. She didn't want the scene investigators down here to collect evidence until she had photographed the remains and collected the tiniest bones. They could help her load the larger ones, but she wasn't taking any chances with the hands and feet.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, both skeletons had been extensively photographed and the smallest bones collected. She had been able to tell them that they had one male and one female skeleton, probably in their late teens to mid twenties. They were possibly both Caucasian but she wasn't able to tell for sure until she had them in the lab and was able to do accurate measurements. Although Stillman had been going in and out of the basement, presumably to call Vera or Jeffries about land records, Scotty hadn't left once in the last forty-five minutes. It seemed to be getting colder and he was relived when she told him she was ready for the investigators to come down and assist her in packing up the remaining bones. 

Scotty smiled when he realised he recognized one of the CSI's coming down the stairs. Rachel Boswell. They had met only a few weeks ago after Lilly's disappearance, she had been one of the responding CSI's. He remembered her that she had cared enough to come and see him personally about the results because Lilly was his partner.

"Hey Valens, good to see you again." He smiled and extended his hand for yet another shake.

"It's good to see you too."

"How's Lilly doing?"

"Yeah, she's going good. Thanks for your help with that by the way."

"No problem. Well, see you later."

After about fifteen minutes later Scotty had finished helping Dr. Evans pack the rest of the remains into the coroners van.

"Thanks for that," she said smiling.

"Anytime." He noticed Stillman was off the phone and heading towards him.

"I've got to go. Please call me when you find out anything Dr. Evans," he said handing her his card.

"Please, it's Chelsea; and I'll call as soon as I know something that might help."

"Thanks," he said turning to face his boss.

"Ok we're going back to meet with Vera and Jeffries and headquarters. They've got records of the people who've used this space as far back as possible. But there's a few years they're still having trouble with because someone rented out the property."

They started walking back to their cars and Stillman started speaking again.

"You've seen Lilly a few times over the last couple of weeks, how's she been doing?" he asked.

"She's been fine. A bit bored, but other than that she's been pretty fine." Scotty answered wondering where this was going.

"Well we're going to be busy on this one and if she's alright I might consider trying to get her back in now. She's only off for a few more days now anyway."

"I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that," Scotty said feeling happy for her. She'd be better off working than sitting home by herself anyway.

"Well there will be conditions obviously. I'll call her back at the office and see what she thinks about it."

Scotty already knew what she'd think about it and really wanted to call her and tell her but knew he couldn't. They both left in their own cars, heading back to the station.

He was wondering whether this case was going to lead them anywhere at all. What if it wasn't anything at all? I mean, how long had those bones been down there? Was the body in the warehouse just in the wrong place at the wrong time or had it been put there and the building set on fire to try and cover it up? Did the two cases have any relation at all, other than being found in the same building?

It was always the way. So many questions, so few answers.

**A/N: Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner than this one was but I have my trial exams coming up (which happen to be counted in the final mark we recieve) and rehearsing and stuff like that.**


	4. Phone Calls

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait in updates and thanks again to reviewers. Two chapters today! Oh and BTW we didn't go to well at the Rock Eisteddfod Challenge finals, but when we competed at Newy, we rocked, recieving 9 awardy-thingos!  
**

**Chapter Four: Phone calls**

Carefully Lilly placed the phone back in its cradle. She sank down onto the couch a smile spreading across her face. She'd be going back to work. Back to the PPD. She was supposed to be evaluated in a few days time to determine whether she was fit for duty but because they needed her input on the current case that would be left for now. One of the conditions of her return had been that she sees a counsellor, either the PPD's counsellor or a private practitioner. She had of course fought him on this but he hadn't given in. He had simply stated that if she weren't willing to cooperate he would find someone to replace her for the time being. Even though she didn't really think that he'd do that she didn't want to take the chance and therefore she gave in and agreed to see this counsellor. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

But of course going back brought up more problems. Her and Scotty for one. She had hoped that over the next few days she would be able to figure out how to deal with working with him and being objective. Hell, she didn't even know what _they_ were. She wasn't very good at the whole relationship thing and really didn't want to hurt him. It had all seemed so much easier when she didn't think she'd live to see a time when they'd be together. But now they were, and she wasn't sure where that left her.

Back at the office, Stillman had gotten off the phone and was looking drained. Scotty smiled to himself. Arguing with Lilly will do that to you. He came out of his office and walked over towards Scotty's desk.

"I take it she didn't like the idea of the counselling," Scotty said.

"Not exactly no. But I'm afraid that's the only option. After what she went through...," he stopped there, looking as thoug he wasn't exactly sure on how to continue. Scotty's only response was a small nod of his head.

"Has she talked about it to you at all?" Stillman asked.

"No, nothing, but that's not exactly unusual for her."

"Yeah. Any word from the medical examiners office?"

"No, not yet."

"All right, well keep me informed."

"Will do boss. I'm heading home, I'll interview the security companies who watch the buildings in that area tomorrow, see if I can't get anything from them."

"All right, night Scotty."

"Yeah night boss."

Scotty drove home in silence, going over the day's events in his mind, from seeing Lilly that morning to Dr. Chelsea Evans and the three sets of remains from the warehouse to the present moment. He was nearly going to drive over to Lilly's place first but then decided against it. He didn't want her getting the wrong idea about him going over there at this time of night. Instead he'd call her like she'd asked when he got home.

The rest of the drive back was uneventful, passing in blur of city streetlights. After arriving home he had rummaged around in the fridge, finding leftovers still fresh enough to be considered edible, and consumed them hungrily. Then he had a quick shower before calling Lilly.

"Lilly Rush," she said after two rings.

"Hey, it's Scotty."

"Hey, so how'd your case go?" she asked.

"Well we've got three bodies so far, we were only expecting the one but then they uncovered two more in the basement of the warehouse. The one in the main area was pretty burnt, the ones in the basement completely skeletonised."

"You think the cases are related?"

"No idea. They've got a specialist, a Dr Chelsea Evans, looking at the bones from the basement and Dr Hawkins is looking at the other body. Hopefully we'll get some more on them tomorrow."

"Did the crime scene unit get anything?"

"I don't know, we left before they started, we've got to see them tomorrow too." There was a slight pause in conversation before Scotty continued, he wasn't exactly used to small talk with Lilly. "So when are you coming back?"

"I'll be coming in tomorrow, but only on the condition that I see a psychologist," she answered.

"That sounds like fun," he said sarcastically, " how long will that last?"

"Not sure yet, but I'm fine, so I don't think it will be for too long," she said confidently.

"I'm glad you'll be back tomorrow, it's not the same being with Vera and Jeffries."

She laughed at that before responding, "what I'm slightly less masculine," she said jokingly.

"Yeah," he said laughing, " something like that."

"So what are we doing tomorrow?"

"Uh, we'll be checking out the security company that is responsible for that building. There's a small group of them in that area all owned by the same guy, a Michael Tager. Vera interviewed him today, seems that he doesn't use the buildings, they belonged to his dad and that he's never really had a use for them. He said he was actually thinking of selling them soon."

"To anyone in particular?" she asked.

"Didn't say. Why, you gotta theory?"

"Nah, nothing yet. But then we don't really have much to go on."

"Well not yet," said Scotty.

"You're sounding pretty optimistic about this one."

"Yeah well that's because you'll be back with me for it."

She didn't speak and he was left momentarily wondering whether he had over-stepped an invisible boundary line.

"Hey Scotty," she started before she was interrupted by a noisy cat. "I'd better go. I've got to feed these girls and then get stuff ready for tomorrow."

"Alright then. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

" Night Scotty."

After hanging up the phone he went to bed and lay awake, thinking about their conversation. Damn she confuses me, he though to himself. He shut his eyes and let out a contented sigh, knowing that he wouldn't want it any other way.


	5. Early Start

**A/N: There should be another chapter up in about a week, hopefully sooner! **

**Chapter Five- Early Start**

Lilly was awake early again the next morning, her nightmares still persistently invading her dreams. Maybe being at work would keep her inner demons quiet she thought as she poured coffee into a cup and walked out of the break room. When she had arrived that morning at seven she had been the only person in the homicide room. It was now eight-fifteen and after reading yesterday's reports twice and drinking two cups of coffee (this would be her third), seven more people had entered the room. A couple had said hello and that they were glad she was back, the others had avoided her, probably unsure what to make of her after the gossip that had filled up this station over recent weeks. Scotty had told her on one of his visits some of what was being said and it was sufficient to say that very little of it was the truth. Jeffries had come in a few minutes ago and had told her how glad he was that she was back. Then came Vera and together they filled her in on some of the more colourful aspects of the last couple of weeks. She really hadn't realised how much she had missed this until now. Stillman, or 'boss' as they preferred to call him came in and said a few brief words before heading into his office.

As she returned to her desk with her coffee she noticed that Scotty was now here too. She said good morning to him before sitting down at her desk. She then wondered if he had told Nick or Will that they'd been seeing each other. If sounded ridiculous using the term 'seeing each other' when referring to her and Scotty's relationship. It sounded more like she was talking about a married person stepping out on his partner.

Luckily she was broken from her slightly disturbing thoughts by Stillman's voice calling her into his office. She abandoned her coffee on her desk, aware of all the eyes on her and she crossed to his office. She shut the door behind her and then took a seat in the chair opposite his desk.

"What's up?" she said as she sat down.

"Oh it's nothing really," he replied.

He looked as though he was going to continue but she cut in, "if it's nothing, why are we discussing it in here?"

"I didn't think you would want the whole office knowing that you were being made to see a psychologist."

"Yeah, that's why I'm not seeing the department one."

"Well who are you seeing then? Because you understand that I will need to get in touch with them."

"It's a Dr Bethany. She works downtown." Lilly pulled a card out of her pocket placing it on the desk. "I thought you'd need to speak with her."

"Thanks. Oh, and before you go, when's your appointment with her?"

"Thursday evening." He sported a look of disbelief on his face and so she added, "it was the earliest I could get in. Honestly."

She then left his office and sat down at her desk, drinking her coffee that had definitely gone down a few degrees in temperature during her short absence.

"Hey, you right to go see this security company," Scotty said as he walked towards her desk.

"Yeah I'm good," she said getting her coat and following him out.

The Lewis and Co. security company was run out of the third floor of an office building downtown. They dealt with personal and business security including monitored intruder alarms, CCTV, patrols, card access, intercom systems and fire monitoring according to the research Scotty had carried out that morning.

After going in and presenting ID they were lead to the manager's office. Mr Lewis was short and round, with a fuzzy grey beard and greying dark hair. He sort of reminded Lilly of a garden gnome.

"I'm Detective Valens and this is Detective Rush, we're from homicide. We're here to ask you a few questions about Michael Tager and the buildings he owns that you run security for."

"Oh, alright, just let me get his file," he said walking over to a silver filing cabinet, which was almost as tall as him and searched through one of the draws before making a triumphant sounding noise and returning to his desk. He sat down and indicated that they should do the same before he began thumbing through the pages of the file.

"We've been running security for his property there for almost thirteen years now," he said looking up at the two detectives opposite him.

" So he came in you in 1992?" Lilly asked.

"Not him, his father. You see his father wanted the warehouses to be guarded to prevent teens from breaking in and using the place for parties and stuff like that."

"What sort of security measures did he have?" said Scotty, opening his notebook and taking out a pen.

"Let me see," he said searching through the files pages. "Here we go. He wanted monitored intruder alarms, fire monitoring, CCTV and patrols.

"Fire monitoring?" said Lilly turning to face her partner. He made brief eye contact with her, mirroring her confusion.

"Could we see the CCTV footage from last weekend?" Scotty asked, hoping that they might finally be onto something.

"There hasn't been footage on that place since Michael Tager came into possession of it eight years ago. He thought that it was pointless and a waste of money."

"So what exactly does he hire you for?" asked Lilly impatiently.

"We do patrols on the area every second day, just checking for break-ins, vandalism, that sort of thing."

"I don't suppose you had anyone out there Saturday evening or early Sunday morning?" said Scotty.

"No, we didn't. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Yes actually," said Lilly, "was there ever any vandalism or break-ins?"

"Only once or twice. I can photocopy the reports for you if you would like."

"Yes thankyou," she said. They waited in the reception section until he came back with a folder containing copies of the reports. They thanked him again before heading back towards the elevator.

As they rode down to the ground floor, Scotty turned to Lilly, "So, where to next?"

"Back to the office. We need to find out what happened in that warehouse."


	6. Jane and John Doe

**A/N: **I'm sorry for the long wait in this chapter, but it will definitely not be as long until the next one (probably within the next couple of days). Also as some might have noticed, my pen name has changed to eddie-angel.

**Chapter Six: Jane and John Doe**

"See this," said Dr. Evans, sliding a photograph of a skeletal pelvis across her desk, "this is the pubic symphysis, where the left pubis meets the right pubis, is great for helping with age. This one," she said pointing at the photograph, "is corrugated, or uh, bumpy which indicated that she was in her late teens."

"That alone wouldn't be of much use because it still leaves us with too large of an age gap." She looked up from the papers on her desk and continued, "Your Jane Doe had a full set of teeth minus the third molar, or wisdom teeth, and therefore I can estimate she was 17 or 18 years old when she died. Now your John Doe also had a full set of teeth, which will make ID a good possibility. I've concluded that he was around 20 years old when he died."

'Do you know how long they've been down there?" Asked Scotty.

"Judging by the temperature down there and the degree of decomposition I'd stay they've been down there around 25 years."

"Cause of death?" Asked Lilly.

"Jane Doe suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso. John Doe however had his throat slit, the wound deep enough to cut the bone. Not sure yet whether the same weapon was used on both bodies but I'll be sure to call you when I get that information back."

"Okay well thanks a lot Dr. Evans," said Scotty standing up and taking the copied files she handed to him.

"No problem and please it's Chelsea," she said smiling at him, "it was a pleasure to meet you Detective Rush."

Lilly simply before turning around and following her partner out the door.

Back at the station, Lilly and Scotty shared their findings at the morgue with Vera and Jeffries.

* * *

"How'd you guys go down with CSU?" Asked Scotty. 

"Well they didn't turn up all that much," said Jeffries looking over his notes; "there was old blood spatter on one of the wall, which seems consistent with John Doe's throat being slit."

"No sign of the murder weapon?" Asked Lilly.

"No. But they did find this with one of the bodies," said Vera, sliding a photograph of a bracelet across the table. "What d'ya think Lil', it looks pretty unique?"

"What makes you think I know anything about jewellery?" She said, the slight smile on her face contradicting the annoyance in her voice.

"Well you've got your ear pierced, that's more than any of the rest of us," said Vera.

Lilly rolled her eyes at him before picking up the picture and studying in closer. It had round semi-circle stones set in gold, linked together with swirled gold S's.

"The stones look like they are some type of moonstone, set in gold. Probably worth between $1000 and $4000."

Nick Vera opened his mouth to respond, but before he could they were interrupted.

"Alright, where are we with these cases? What did you find out at the morgue?" Said Stillman looking at Lilly and Scotty.

"Well both corpses had been down there for around twenty-five years and they confirmed one male and one female," Scotty informed him.

"Jane Doe suffered multiple stab wounds to the chest, John Doe had his throat slit," she said handing him the photographs that proved her statement.

"Any news about the body upstairs? We still have to prove that that somehow isn't connected with the bodies in the basement," Stillman said.

"The ME hasn't finished with that yet. Actually, I'm not sure whether he, or anyone in his office has started their examination. They're being held up a bit by that big traffic accident down town, they've got a body count of twelve so far."

"Right then for now we'll just deal with what we've got."

" What about you two," he said directing his gaze to Vera and Jeffries.

They relayed to him what they had just told Lilly and Scotty.

"So in the morning, we are gonna go visit an antique dealer I know," said Vera.

Lilly snorted with laughter, "You know an antique dealer?"

"You been holding out onus Vera? I never took you for the antique type," said Scotty grinning profusely.

"Not another secretive hobby" said Jeffries with a sigh.

"Uh, am I missing something here?" Scotty asked, looking confused and intrigued at the same time.

"Maybe another time Scotty," Lilly said flipping shut the folder in front of her and looking at her watch. "Well I've got someplace to be," she said standing up and picking her bag up from the floor.

"Who is he?" Asked Vera. "Not another ADA Lil', they're nothing but trouble."

"Since when are you concerned with who I date," she exclaimed, yet again unable to keep the smile off her face.

"Since you seem to have such appalling taste in men."

Lilly and Scotty's eyes met for a second and she briefly smiled at him, a smile that seemed to go unnoticed by everyone else.

"I don't have the time to justify my dates to you Vera. Maybe another time," she said with a smirk. "Goodbye."

"They murmured their goodbyes and she left knowing that where she was headed was not the date the Nick had alluded to. Dr Luella, the psychiatrist, hardly fit the description of Lilly's perfect date. Definitely far from it.


	7. When Doves Cry

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Cold Case or any of it's characters. Also the song, When Doves Cry doesn't belong to me.

**Authors Note:** It's really hard to write an LS pairing with all the angst between them on the show. Since when I started writing this story I had no idea about the Christina/Scotty relationship, I've decided to leave it out, as it didn't come up at all in the first story. In Australia we have one episode left of the second season, which they aren't showing us till next year! It's frustrating! Anyway, on with the story:

**Chapter 7: When Doves Cry**

_How can you leave me standing alone in a world that is so cold?   
Maybe I'm just too demanding,   
Maybe I'm just like my father, too bold.   
Maybe I'm just like my mother, she's never satisfied,   
Why do we scream at each other?   
This is what it sounds like when doves cry._  
**_When doves cry- Quindon Tarver_**

* * *

"So why did you leave New York?" asked Dr. Bethany Luella. 

_Because I couldn't stand it there anymore, it was killing me, she thought._

"I left New York because I didn't want to live anymore. I knew some people out here in Philly so I decided that once I'd completed my basic training, this is where I wanted to be."

"Okay. So there was no other reason behind your moving to Philadelphia?"

'_Yes,' _she thought, but answered with a confident "No." She didn't need for this woman to know everything about her life.

Dr. Luella flipped through the file on the table. "Says here you're not married. Is there anyone in your life at the moment?"

"Well it's complicated," Lilly offered with a nervous smile. "Anyway," she said, her defensive side kicking in, "how's that going to help you assess my fitness for duty?"

"Lilly, please, I'm just trying to develop some background information so that I can understand you."

"_Understand me?" Lilly thought, "I don't even understand me."_

"So if you don't want to talk about your romantic relationships, we'll start with family. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, sure," she answered, feeling defeated.

"You have any brothers or sisters?"

"One sister, Christina. She's three years younger."

"Does she live in Philadelphia?"

"No, I think she still lives in New York. I haven't spoken to her in a while."

"Any particular reason for that?" she asked looking straight at Lilly with piquing interest.

"We didn't talk much after I moved out here," instead of waiting for another question, Lilly just kept talking, "we weren't all that close and we just grew further apart with I came to Philadelphia."

"What about your parents?" she asked, looking up from the notes she had been taking.

For Lilly, this conversation was quickly heading into uncomfortable territory. Maybe it would have been easier for her to stick with the relationship questions and try to explain why she thought that dating her partner was not a bad idea.

"My mother's back in New York," she explained.

"My parents got divorced when I was six, I don't know anything much about my dad."

"Liar," said the voice in her head. You just don't want to remember him. He was just another person who didn't love you enough to stay.

* * *

An hour later she was back in her apartment, feeling totally drained and close to tears. She had spent the last half hour of her session with Dr. Luella having to _'describe her childhood', 'explain her case history',_ _'why she chose that line of work' _and all that rubbish. Sure, talking about these sorts of things might help in the long run, but right now it wasn't doing her any good at all. She might have only talked about the good and necessary things but it had succeeded in reminding her of all the bad words, fights, rejections, heartbreaks and the worst moments of the worst cases. All in all, it had left her feeling like shit.

She relieved some of the tension with a warm shower and changed into her pyjamas. She had just begun to pour herself a glass of wine when the doorbell rang.

She paused in the kitchen, ignoring the noise, hoping that whoever it was would go away, but they rang again persistently.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before slowly starting to walk towards the door. Just before she reached it, she heard the lock click and the door began to open. Lilly froze until she saw who was on the other side.

She looked inquisitively from the key in his hand to the open door. Noticing her confusion he said, "you gave me your spare key when you were in the hospital. I tried calling but there was no answer."

"I must have been in the shower," she said tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"So, can I come in?" he asked.

"Sure," she said moving aside so he could enter.

"I'm, uh, going to get a drink, you want anything?" she asked as he came in.

"Yeah, I'll have a beer if you've got any."

She went to the fridge and pulled out two can and then sat them on the bench. She took a deep breath and sighed before placing one of the cans back into the fridge. She might want to forget all that she had remembered, but not like that, not tonight. Instead she took a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water from the tap.

As grateful as she was to Scotty for wanting to check up on her, part of her wished he'd just leave. She was used to dealing with these things by herself, having someone else around now would make things kind of awkward.

She walked back into the living room, sitting down on the opposite end of the couch from Scotty and passed him his beer.

"So how was your first session?" he asked, not oblivious at all to how she'd been acting.

"It was fine," she stated simply. She picked up the glass of water from the table and took a sip.

"All right. What's bothering you Lil'?" he asked putting his beer on the table and moving closer to her.

"Nothing, I'm fine," she said, avoiding his eyes.

"Come on, you're not fine, I can see your lying. You can tell me what's wrong Lilly."

"Dammit Scotty," she said banging her glass onto the coffee table, "I don't need your help I'll be fine."

She stood up and walked over to the window taking a deep breath. She wasn't going to cry and she wasn't going to give in. She turned back to him; he had stood up and was making his way over to her.

"Maybe you should just leave," she said.

"Yeah, maybe I should, but I'm not going anywhere 'till you tell me what's wrong. You don't have to handle this all alone."

She looked up at him, her eyes full of sadness. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. At that moment, she caved in. This felt so much better than sitting alone staring aimlessly at the television screen or crying herself to sleep. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer. She couldn't be sure, but she would've sworn that he whispered, "Everything will be alright."

* * *

Now, seated on the couch, she told him things that she'd never spoken to about anyone before in her life.

"He just left one night. He couldn't take her anymore. Leaving us, Christina and I, it didn't seem to bother him. He just didn't care. He'd call sometimes, out of the blue there he'd be. And that made it so much harder. Because he'd come around and I just felt that I couldn't hate him. I didn't love him either, but I couldn't bring myself to hate him. It's hard to explain because it's an emotional pain, he didn't hit us, or abuse us, which is something people can more readily understand." She just sat there, eyes downcast, and so sad.

"Mum was drunk a lot of the time, but more so after dad left. She'd been through a lot and he couldn't help her, he couldn't stop her hurting. We didn't have much money and most of what we did have went towards supporting her habit. You know, I used to feel so guilty for despising her. I'd feel so bad because I'd remember what she went through with dad and then feel bad that I could ever get this angry at her." She took and deep breathbefore continuing and Scotty held her tighter, afraid that if he didn't keep contact between them she'd stop talking and withdraw completely.

"I looked out for Christina a lot. She's three years younger than me, which is a bit of a difficult age difference because we weren't close enough to be experiencing and understanding the same things at the same time, and we weren't far apart enough for her to look up to me or any of that younger sister stuff. She never liked that way that I was so serious about things, she wanted to have fun, and live her life. I did too, " she said looking into his eyes, " I wanted to be carefree and enjoy myself but I couldn't because someone had to be in reality when everything fell apart. I had to be strong whenever mum was acting like an idiot and saying horrid things to us both. I couldn't cry when she yelled at me, I didn't want Christina to know that I was falling apart. I had to keep myself together, be strong for both of us."

"Some days I'd felt like dying. I'd wished that everything would be all right and that I could be happy. When I was older, like fifteen and sixteen, I used to think about running away. Just packing up and leaving everything behind. But I couldn't. I couldn't leave her, I didn't know what would happen to if I left."

"Christina?" Scotty said softly.

"Yeah. So I stayed. Some days I felt pretty lucky actually. At high school I had some good friends, no one I was really close to, but they were good to me. When I was there, I could almost forget what was waiting for me at home, because we'd spend the whole day laughing and gossiping and everything felt all right."

"Maybe you shouldn't go to this counselling, therapy sessions. They only seem to be making things worse for you," Scotty suggested.

"I have too. Otherwise you'll be out there without a partner, and this girl and boy, they need my help now. It's not going to do me any good to be here."

"I understand that, really I do. But I just don't want you hurting. I really care about you Lil."

She looked up into her eyes, and saw tears in his eyes, and the way that he was looking at her, well; no one had ever looked at her in that way before in her life. She believed every word he said.

"I know," she whispered, as her reached out to her wiping a tear from her face.

He pulled her close to him and held her tightly. They stayed like that until she slowed stood up. She held out her hand to him and led him to her bedroom.

"Lilly…" he began.

"Please, just stay here with me tonight," she said her eyes still red with tears.

There was no hidden meaning behind her invitation and he understood that. She just needed someone there with her. Silently, he accepted with a nod of his and tightened his hold of her hand.


End file.
